• Question: What are the types of infection we can catch from parasites

    Asked by ILuvScience to Franco on 13 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hello I LuvScience
      there are countless diseases that one can catch from parasites: malaria, trypanosomiasis (= spleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, filariasis, schistosomiasis, it’s a very long list. Some but not all infections can be avoided by good hygiene and sanitation, but they tend to occur mainly in warmer countries. If you consider viruses as parasites as well, then the list is much longer. Cold, flu, HIV, etc. but most people don’t see viruses as parasites but that distinctions is flawed (in my opinion)

Comments

  • Photo: Mark

    Mark commented on :

    Hi I luvscience – parasites are a wide range of organisms that live on or in another organism and exploit that organism for their own gain. Viruses and bacteria are sometimes known as ‘micro-parasites’, the larger, multi-celled ones are known as ‘macro-parasites’. Many parasites are worm-like, either round worms or flat worms. The most deadly ones tend to be the ones living in your blood and transmitted by flying insects